Well the good news is the crappie will bite even in the cold. The bad news is the river is still very high and muddy in places. Today we ventured out to the lake and managed to scratch out enough for supper before the coffee ran out. The bites were scarce but, when you did get bit it was a quality fish. We fished the B’n”M Capps and Coleman double minnow rigs but, we replaced the bottom hook with a Charlie Brewers Crappie Slider in Grass Hopper Green. The fish were suspended at 17 feet over deep brush piles. The lake has dropped to 43, that may explain why it was a “one here and one there” type day. It is cold and there is a little more current than I like but all in all it was a great day.

On January 9th the Mississippi Catfish Trail has the final leg of their series on the Mighty Mississippi River. I left Tennessee thinking it would be a nice change to be warm for a few days but, I was very wrong in that regard.

When Saturday rolled around it was all of 21 degree’s at the pre-launch meeting. In fact it was so cold they has a propane fireplace burning so you would not get frostbite before you even hit the water. When day break arrived it the temperatures had risen into the mid 20’s.

I jumped in the boat with the B’n’m Pro Staff team of David Magness and Rusty Jackson and away we went down river. The temperature was 24, the boat was running 45, and the wind was blowing 12-15 mph. I am not sure how you would get a windchill out of all that but, I can assure you it was ” all the way cold” according to David.

They fished all day and caught 4 fish but that was not enough to win the event as that big fish bite evaded them with the cold front. However they had enough points to win the Mississippi Catfish Trail Anglers of the Year.

Congratulations on yet another bug win by a team of B’n’M pro Anglers.

The crappies on Priest are trying their best to fall into a stable winter pattern. If the lake will stay stable we will be in business! Currently the fishing is on fire. The fish are holding steady in 12-14 feet of water suspended over 20+ feet. Double minnow rigs with a Charlie Brewers Slider on the bottom have been producing limits. Cotton candy has been the best color by far. The fish are a little trolling motor sensitive so the BnM Pro Staff 16 foot trolling rods were the deal for keeping the baits away from the boat.

Above: Bryant’s Osage Outdoors, the best tackle shop on the lake.

I must say that the Lake of the Ozarks is a very impressive, yet intimidating lake. It has over 30,000 docks and more shoreline than the coast of California. Just getting started can be quite a daunting task. When we left Tennessee, I was not convinced this was a crappie destination, I tossed in a couple bass rods “just in case”.

We started fishing in the Laurie area and never felt the need to leave. Not only is the fishing great but the people in the area are extremely free with information and very accommodating. We chose to base out of Bryant’s Osage Outdoors tackle shop. Accommodations were also awesome at Hawks Landing Resort.

The lake has about every type of structure and depth you can imagine. We started pulling crank baits in 45 feet of water, targeting suspended fish at about 22 feet deep. Since this is primarily an open water game we were near the main channel edge following the 45-foot contour line. We caught fish all day using this method and oddly enough they were all white crappie in the 1-pound range. We stopped counting at around 60 legal fish. We used the Jenko Crappie crankbaits to catch our fish.

On Saturday we awoke to a major curve ball from mother nature. The wind was blowing 15-20-mph and the temperatures had dropped over 10-degree’s. The main lake was just not fishable due to the wind. Boat control was a futile effort. Add in the 40-foot plus yachts full of, what the locals called” leaf lookers, and my 18-foot boat was just not enough watercraft that day.

We hit some sheltered coves, but they were not crankbait conducive at all. They were full of brush and other structure. We had no choice but to change tactics to, my least favorite method of crappie fishing, spider rigging. We stayed in 3-10-foot of water and rigged with a pair of hooks tipped with minnows. If we stayed shallow, and tight to the brush, we caught a few fish. It was nothing to call home about yet… I have a thing about orange jig heads because they always catch fish, well that’s what I tell myself anyways. In other words, I have extreme confidence in orange jig heads. The fly in the proverbial buttermilk was my jig box was on my desk, 587 miles away. Luckily, I had been to the American Crappie Trail banquet and had been given one pack of jigs called a Rockport Rattler, and they were orange! We removed the hooks and started tipping a two-jig setup with live minnows. That turned out to be the game changer for the day. We caught fish one after the other, until lunchtime.

After lunch we swapped to shooting some of the plethora of docks on the lake and we caught our best fish this way. When the sun peeked out we would catch good fish, when it went behind the clouds we still caught a few but the size dropped considerably.

Overall this was an amazing lake to fish. I am already looking forward to a spring adventure to the Lake of the Ozarks! Finally, I need to day that I never used the bass rods I dragged along “Just in case”

Troy Basso is a freelance outdoor writer and photographer from Tennessee. He can be reached though his website at www.troybassooutdoors.com .